I have always been a supporter of gay marriage since first becoming aware of the concept in the early 1990s.

At that time, I regularly listened to Dr. James Dobson’s conservative Christian program “Focus on the Family,” and my belief in the rights of gays to marry strengthened.

The Bible condemns those living the “gay lifestyle,” Dr. Dobson and his guests intoned. All people who are gay can become heterosexual, they argued.

But Dr. Dobson never defined what he meant by “gay lifestyle” and “homosexual behavior.” Might he be thinking about gay tendencies to like Broadway musicals and the ballet? Or their overrepresentation in the fashion industry? Or their sometimes distinctive visual and vocal quirks?

I doubt it, because these anti-gay marriage crusaders remained silent when their less politically correct colleagues trumpeted their beliefs that homoSEX!!!UALS (they always accented the “sex” part) want to rape young boys and engage in anonymous sex. While a small number of homosexuals do engage in these demeaning and destructive behaviors, the lesbians and gays I know are caring, hardworking people who either want to be or are in committed relationships.

Today, 60 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage, according to a 2015 Gallup Poll. I’m thrilled.

Christian conservative leaders’ latest crusade is to protect us from transgender people who want to use the bathroom that best fits their gender.

This quest came to light when the North Carolina legislature went into emergency session to pass a bill overruling a Charlotte, NC ordinance allowing transgender men to use men’s restrooms and transgender women to use women’s restrooms. Under the recently-signed law, people within the state will have to use the restroom corresponding to the sex denoted on their birth certificates.

However, many businesses and entertainers have fiercely supported the rights of transgender people, prompting the usual “we’re-victim” wails from conservative Christian leaders. A directive from the Obama administration supporting the right of transgender public school students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity caused the usual roars of outrage.

Of course, I’m concerned that a few heterosexual predators will try to pass as transgender to cause havoc in bathrooms. But as Steve Chapman pointed out in his April 7, 2016 column posted to Townhall.com, the North Carolina law is unenforceable unless law enforcement officials insist on checking birth certificates of people prior to entering bathrooms. Would they check each and every person, or would they insist that a certain percentage of people expose themselves to prove their gender? Who would pay for these identity-checking law enforcers? And lawyers would profit from the inevitable screw-ups.

Furthermore, the average person, while peeing or pooping, can’t tell if a person was born with gender-distinguishing characteristics or obtained them through a sex-change surgery. Nor do we care. As my 19-year-old stepson said, “As long as they leave me alone, I’ll leave them alone.”

The thornier question, however, is when during the sometimes 18-month-long journey transgender people go through to change their gender identity they should be allowed to use the bathroom of the gender they are seeking to become. Like other contentious issues, the devil is in the details, but many of us don’t want to risk our purity by dancing with Satan. And dealing with these details is best done without the prying eyes and howls from those not directly connected with the conflict.

Conservative Christian leaders, you have spent more than 35 years trying to persuade us that homosexuality is both a mortal sin and a psychiatric disorder through bullying condescension, and are failing spectacularly. Now, you seem to be trying to demonize transgender people through similar tactics, and continue to slip-slide into irrelevance. When will you ever learn?

And President Obama and the federal bureaucracy: sometimes throwing your weight around in a local matter strengthens the forces you are trying to defeat. So I respectfully suggest, Mr. President, that you confine your trash-talking to the basketball court.